Morphine and Gossamer
by quadi9
Summary: A short, one-paragraph essay written as a glimpse into the mind of Ghost. Critical reviews are appreciated, but don't complain about the length.
1. LOST SOULS exerpt

Morphine and Gossamer  
  
by: Marilyn, My Bitterness  
  
Author's Note: This is a two part demonstration essay that I wrote about Ghost in English class, 9th grade. I got full marks on it, and I've decided to share it with my fellow Poppy Z. Brite fans. Hopefully, you as the reader will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. The first part is the exerpt from the book that I used, which does not belong to me in the least. I'm only posting it for the reader to understand just what the following essay was about. Now the second page, however, does belong to me. So ... enjoy! And please .... tell me what you think of it. The favour will be returned ::winks::  
  
.:: Exerpt from -Lost Souls- Taken from pages 195- 196. ::.  
  
"The audience was a sea. The music pulled like the Mississippi; he could be swept away, he could drown. But drowning might be sweet. In his throat, his voice was thick wine. The pale hands snatched it and bore it up on a cloud of clove smoke. For those children Ghost sang harder, letting his voice soar, pushing it down deep and gravelly, strining it out in a howl like a shimmering gold wire.  
  
Between him and Steve, the electricity crackled. Ghost clenched his hands in front of him, raised his face to the gilded ceiling. Steve shook his head madly. His hair stood out like a scribbled black cloud. Sparkling drops of sweat landed sizzling on his guitar, on the audience, on Ghost's upturned face. Ghost licked the sweat off his lips and tried to breathe. There was no breath left in him. The audience had taken it all. In him there was only song, endlessly swelling. If he did not let it out his heart would burst." 


	2. Morphine and Gossamer

Author's Note: This is a two part demonstration essay that I wrote about Ghost in English class, 9th grade. I got full marks on it, and I've decided to share it with my fellow Poppy Z. Brite fans. Hopefully, you as the reader will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. The first part is the exerpt from the book that I used, which does not belong to me in the least. I'm only posting it for the reader to understand just what the following essay was about. Now the second page, however, does belong to me. So ... enjoy! And please .... tell me what you think of it. The favour will be returned ::winks::  
  
Any and all mistakes are my fault. This is not for profit. Now come scrub my back.  
  
Morphine and Gossamer: A Look Inside the Mind of Ghost  
  
In the novel LOST SOULS, Poppy Z. Brite demonstrates a prominent usage of imagery to convery the ethereal being that represents Ghost. One such example of this vapor-like quality comes to Ghost while singing in his two man band, Lost Souls? Ghost seems to almost become the music, seems to feel a great connection between his soul, the music and the children he sang for. His heavily accented Carolinian voice was "thick wine". The songs he sung had such an effect on him that his voice was strung out "in a howl like a shimmering gold wire" (195). When one ponders a thick wine, a vision of a single solitary bottle of wine comes to mind. The way Ghost feels inside is that of a single, solitary being against the odds of the world, trying to bring back to Mother Nature her naturally beautiful charm. In reference to the shimmering wire, one could only help but to envision some weird gossamer strand, flowing in the wind of his breath. Another such example of Ghost's delicate personality is when Brite describes his dire need to purge from within him the discontent soul that lives through his voice. His adoring children take his breath away and "in him there is only song." He feels his voice "swelling" and that could he not rid himself of his pain, "his heart would burst" (196). To feel such a pain that it seems to smother you, and to feel such an overwhelming desire to release an internal demon shows to be greatly in-tune with a sense of inner self, and a yearning for inner peace. Being such a fragile and intelligent creature, Ghost knows that he cannot purge himself of the demons for all time, but through his song and music, he can help sate his angst, and that of the children around him, if not only for a little while. He shows that whether it's through his gods given talent of a voice or his deep understanding of the human psyche, he is a very heavenly and celestial being. Very few people can assume this quality, and even fewer can bring out in themselves. People like Ghost are so rare in the world today, and should always remain treasured.  
  
... So? What did you think? Please tell me .... I would appreciate it immensely. Merci und arrivederci. Oh, three languages at once! I'm awesome ::laughs ass off:: 


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